Calatrava la Vieja
Carrión de Calatrava, Spain
Freely accessible
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Situated at Carrión de Calatrava in Castile-La Mancha, Calatrava la Vieja is a medieval fortress and archaeological site that served as the original nucleus of the Order of Calatrava. Its name derives from an Arabic designation meaning "Fortress of Rabah," referencing an 8th-century Arab nobleman, though the fortress may originate even earlier in Iberian times. References to the site date from 785, and it became the dominant city controlling the Guadiana River valley and the roads to Córdoba and Toledo. Following its Christian conquest by Alfonso VII in 1147, the castle was initially garrisoned by the Knights Templar before Sancho III of Castile offered it to defenders willing to hold it against Moorish attacks. Saint Raymond of Fitero, encouraged by the warrior-friar Diego Velásquez, accepted the charge and successfully defended the fortress in 1158, subsequently founding the Order of Calatrava along Cistercian lines. The Almohads recaptured the site in 1195 after their victory at the Battle of Alarcos. Now designated a bien de interés cultural, the ruins remain part of Castile-La Mancha's Archaeological Parks.
- Type
- castle, archaeological site, monument
- Heritage
- bien de interés cultural
- Place
- Carrión de Calatrava, Spain
This building on
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Location